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Closed Neither Here Nor There

"Poor kid. Should we take him with us, or what? I'm Adam, by the way"

Adam stared at the rest of the group, a couple of which stared back, as he just began to talk.
 
...What kind of sick joke WAS this?

Many things happened, and all at once. Too much really for such a slow mind of hers to comprehend. The others had conjectured that they were inside of a body... and that didn't seem... far off from the icky gooey truth. At this point, she was too much in shock and disbelief to really even feel anything, there was just sheer numbness numbing her nerves.

All she could do was follow the others, wordlessly, and keeping some distance away from them for a while. However, this place was starting to get a bit too eery for her... she wondered vaguely if she should make her presence known. Huh well... wait a second... an exit out of this hellish place? Oooh... and it looked... pretty and nice. She turned back to see one of the others tending to a small child... who she felt rather suspicious of for some reason... well, it was their loss. Arylett proceeded forward towards the brightly lit grassy plain, following closely behind the brown haired short girl whose name she did not know.

At this point, she was still too numb to be surprised. Okay... so... the body leads to this pretty place. All right, she was buying that. Feeling the gentle breeze on her face, she let out a sigh of relief, though still feeling... a bit paranoid. Hmm... this was... too easy, too nice. What caught her eye was that sleeping cat in that tree... she wondered vaguely if it was as it seemed and watched and slowly approached it from a distance, walking past the girl without a word.
 
She gently lifts lhe child up onto his feet, difficult though it is since he seems determined to sit in the ooze.
"Kid... kid? It's okay, we won't let them hurt you. Okay? Do you want to come with us so we can keep you safe?
And what's your name, by the way?"

[Forgot to mention that my character is somewhat too trusting in her bio, I think]
 
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After watching the child with a strange expression of half-sympathy, half-confusion for a few moments, Azril stepped outside into the plain as well. He took a deep breath, thankful to be surrounded by fresh air rather than the metallic atmosphere of... back inside that place. Eyeing the cat sat in the tree curiously, he wondered what bizarre dream twist was going to come about involving the sleeping creature; when it appeared to do nothing he turned back around and looked to observe what exactly the doorway was set into.
 
The little boy allows Jessica to lift him to his feet, clinging tight to her arm. He seems quite frightened still, but has stopped crying at least. He nods a bit, his free hand playing with the tattered black shirt and shorts he has on.

"I...I vant to come vith you, bitte...? My name is Emil..." he says, sniffling. "I miss mama..."


Outside, the entrance of the strange meat chamber is set in a sheer rock face, and rimmed with stones, like a train tunnel. Strangely, looking into it from the outside, the chamber does in fact resembles nothing more than a stone-carved tunnel with a cobblestone road inside, and on sign of those inside at all from looking in.

The cat in the tree opens its eyes when Arylett draws near, looking down at her with a shimmering yellow gaze. The feline flicks its tail a bit, but doesn't get up, and cracks a wide, cheshire cat smile.

"Hello."
 
She looked up.

...So the cat... spoke. All right, all right... buying that too, you know... I mean, after being inside of a body... eh. The numbness was helping with the nervousness, at least. Thankfully. She hesitated for a moment, not knowing how exactly to respond. Its yellow gaze and big ominous smile was making her rather uneasy, pressuring her to create a statement right then and there. Just... ask questions... something easy and simple... questions...

"...Uh... hi. Do you uh... know what... this place is?" She had the distinct feeling that she wouldn't get a straight answer. But it was something, right?
 
Ara had finally wandered over to inspect the cat - mostly out of the suspicious, niggling feeling that something nightmarish would happen, but unable to keep from doing so anyways. She was still standing somewhat far back - but not so far as to completely miss the fact that it started to talk. Gaping, she moved closer.

"You talk!" she blurted out, wide-eyed and glancing at the other girl to see if the other had heard as well - or if she had simply gone insane. But thankfully the other appeared to be stunned but ready to question the cat, and she quickly decided to join in. The odd boy they had found - and apparently welcomed into the group, once she glanced back to check - didn't seem like he would know anything. Cats usually seemed smug and knowledgable, so it was worth a try. "Er... Where are we? Is this a dream or something?" It would have made sense, and didn't knowing that you were in a dream force you to wake up or something? She had thought she had heard that before...
 
"Well, what did the sign say? 'There', didn't it? Then I must assume that's where we are, don't you agree?" the cat says with a grin. "But I am afraid if you agree with me, you'd be dead wrong. You see, this place is neither here nor there, but more like...a place between."

The cat flicks its tail again, and stands up on the branch, stretching. Overhead, the sky was slowly changing, as if nearing sunset, streaks of oranges and reds staining the pale blues. The cat stretches, arching its back gracefully, yellow eyes still locked on the pair of girls.

"You should leave. Something wicked lives here, waiting to devour those who fall into its grasp. You can know the Wicked One by its sharp claws and fangs, it's haunting eyes..." The cat grins widely, showing off rows of fangs.
 
Matt had stayed rather silent until this point, when the cat mentioned a "wicked one."

"I, ah, hate to play Captain Obvious, but this Wicked One that you're describing sounds very much like you," he said, "Your words aren't too... comforting, really."

Of course, if the others trust him, then there's nothing I can do to change there minds, he thought, I haven't really built up a decent reputation with these people, so it would come as little surprise if they didn't listen.
 
Ara blinked as the sky began to change colour - but when the cat decided to describe something that sounded quite familiar, she determined that whatever little help it offered was far outweighed by the fact that it was quite probably a danger. "I think you're right..." she told the boy. She hadn't really been keeping track of anyone's name, having the feeling that it wouldn't matter - this was a dream, right? - so she didn't actually know him. But he seemed sensible right now.

"I think I'll be... going." And she tried to restrain herself from bolting like some other person had - except that she found herself running just as hard towards the distant village, hoping she wouldn't hear the cat following her.
 
Very studiously avoiding the cat, Jessica leads Emil down the path, keeping herself firmly between the cat and the boy and being careful not to run, remembering that some creatures are angered when their prey runs. Reasoning that (a) she's at a safe distance away from the cat and (b) it said that they could leave and so it is presumably willing to let them do so, she calls back warily, "Mister cat? Could you tell us the best place to go if we want to get home?"

(It's not going to turn invisible is it)
 
The answer it had given was useless, but Arylett wasn't really expecting anything at this point. More riddles and trickery... that wasn't really her style. But she knew in a place like this nothing was as it appeared... nothing was blunt and nothing was straight, it was just a bunch of illusions and insanity.

And so the sky had now changed to ominous shades... as the cat described this "Wicked One." Hey wait, where did these others come from? That boy just came out of nowhere! Eh, she must have not been paying attention... but he pointed out the obvious. She had felt from the time she had first seen that cat that there was something very off about it. Well, follow the others, she supposed. Especially before she was catmeat. She looked back at the cat's ugly yellow eyes for a moment, then also bolted to follow the running brown haired girl and the other dude who also first ran towards the village.
 
"Wait....wait up!" Chisai yelled, running after Arylett, "Don't leave me back there with that cat!"

"That cat.....those eyes...." she muttered, shuddering, "It...it was so creepy."
 
The Cat only laughed darkly when Matt spoke to him, his grin widening, showing even more yellowed teeth, more than should possibly fit in his mouth. He sat back down on the branch after stretching, and rested his chin on his paws.

Emil, however, seemed terrified of the Cat, clutching Jessica's hand like his life depended on it, and starting to cry. The little boy was shaking like a leaf, his big blue eyes locked fearfully on the large feline. The Cat turned to watch the boy, yellow eyes shining. He laughed again when Jessica spoke.

"You want to leave? Good luck. You'll need it in the next act of this play! But fear not...the Wicked One does not hunger for your flesh just yet...But be wary, children..."


---


The Village over the hills grows nearer quite quickly as one travels down the path, but it's also easier to make out details, like the fact that not a single plant grows on the grounds of the village. The houses are in the style of the late 1800's or so in Europe, and all painted dark colours. At first glance, there are four houses, a general store, and the ruins of a much large building nearby.

All is still.
 
"Come on, Emil... it's okay, he said he won't hurt us... come on..."
Keeping up a comforting stream of comments, she leads Emil into the Village. She joins the crowd of people that have already reached the Village, and Emil seems to be calming down. A little.
"So! Anyone else waant to look at that ruined building? I asked the cat-" Emil starts and resumes his crying at even the mention "-and he won't tell us how to get out, of course. (Come on, Emil, it's okay, he's way back there. He can't get us now) So we may as well look around!
"...Actually, if anyone has any money or something we may be able to sell, maybe the store?"
 
Cat... Cat... The way it sat in the tree, smiled, spoke, they all reminded Azril of something from his waking life. Something... But what was it? Eyeing it warily, he shuddered a little as he walked past the tree and followed the others down to the quiet village.

At the mention of the presence of anything sell-able, he hugged the scarf tighter around himself, almost as if trying to prevent the woollen garment from being taken from him.. "I don't see why we need... money. I mean this is just a dream. We don't need to buy anything in a dream."

After putting his point across, Azril looked up at the ruined building. "So I suppose we'll... Go up there, expecting to end up in an old church... But actually find ourselves underwater or in a jungle or something, huh."

That seemed to be the way things worked here. Or there.
 
(if you guys don't start actually EXPLORING stuff soon i may have to break out the napalm.)

The buildings all around are completely still, not a single movement from any of them. The only sounds are the group's whispers, and Emil's (now more quiet) crying. There is no sign of life anywhere, not even grass or weeds; nothing but bare dirt. The doors are all shut, except the farthest house on the left, which is ever so slightly ajar.

The breeze has even died away, but the sky overhead has changed again; it's the same dark inky black as the clearing, dotted with stars. Emil holds tighter to Jessica's arm.
 
Emlyn gazed around the town, out of breath and slightly shaking.

"I like this place," he murmured to himself. It would probably be a good time to actually introduce himself to this strange group of people in this strange world.

"I'm Emlyn." He broke the pattern of whispers and silence with his still-relatively-quiet voice.
 
(I was gonna wait for you all to find my character, but fuck it I'm jumping in now.)

Inside one of the buildings, there seemed to be some sort of movement, though that would go unnoticed to those outside. But inside, a black-haired girl shifted around on the floor and opened her eyes.

"...What...?" she reached up and felt the burn scars down the side of her face. Still there. Maybe this wasn't a dream, but she certainly didn't fall asleep here... That thought out, Shelly Valenti sat up and looked around this place she found herself, vision still blurred, already feeling a sense of... dread.

Something wasn't right.
 
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